Quick Look: Mutant Year Zero - Road to Eden

Duck Boar XCOM

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why is vinny on the ql thumbnail?

Any chance they'll do an Exapunks Quick Look before the end of the year? After hearing Jeff talk about it on the Bombcast, I'd love to see them do one.

Is Lea Thompson in this game?

Welcome year zero

https://youtu.be/gkBt7yLXyDk

This looks legit.

Love this game !!!!!

Yeah, I just stumbled upon it the other day on Game Pass. I'm really looking forward to playing more of it, and I hope it doesn't fly under a lot of people's radar. Seems like a really cool game. I hope Game Pass at least gives it the exposure it deserves.

I bought this game 3 days early and finished it on Hard by the time it released officially. It is enjoyable but short. There isn't really any reason to replay since nothing is randomized.

Damn this is making me miss jagged alliance and silent storm and is really making me wanna play it! I still haven't finished war of the chosen but this looks like a hoot, just another animal reference in regards to the subject matter for y'all.

Tomorrow is the first production meeting for "The Mutant Corps."

You can't beat 100%.

If you look closely Dux has Brad's haircut.

Well, I guess this is gonna be my Christmas gift this year. Between the other 9 games it feels like came out this December, along with Below tomorrow, I just can't spare the dough. But damn if this game doesn't seem cool. I appreciate the difficulty options, too. I feel like most times, the condition of "damage you take stays constant between encounters" is usually one which you just have to learn to deal with, and difficulty just changes damage dealt/taken. As someone who gets unreasonably stressed over stuff like that, Normal difficulty may have been the thing that pushed this game over into the "playing it" category for me.

It's so weird seeing swedish puns and references in a game.

I believe the full title is Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden: Infinite: Origins: Black Edition: Ultimate.

That name though...

75% always hits = "real percentages"

This game looks awesome!

torn abouit PC or console for this one (free on console)

I was really interested in this game. And while it looks great I don't think it's going to be worth my time, especially when I would rather replay other games like this before starting a new one. It's now officially off my wishlist.

Great quick look thanks team :)

This seems like a really cool take on the genre. Not a day one for me (I still need to get back into XCOM 2, which I love but have hardly touched), but on some future rainy day, this will be a great way to spend it.

Man. I got this on game pass, but it looks so much better on PC :(

@big_denim: game pass is on PC. you get it there too. if you didnt know game pass in on PC too...

lMao they literally use the terms Stalker and the Zone...

also I've always found those "recommended difficulty" things to be kind of a load of BS.

A boorish boar and a wise-quacking duck...I like the way these dev's think.

Yeah, that sounds like European difficulty sensibilities, alright.

@moderp: Nope. Generally speaking, the only games available on PC for Game Pass are the first party MS games (and a handful of other exceptions). Unfortunately MYZ is only sold as an Xbox game via the MS store. :|

@big_denim: now that is some convoluted bullshit... Sorry

@moderp: Haha - yup!

Even more weird is Sunset Overdrive. That game is even sold as a PC game in the MS store, is an Xbox Game Pass eligible game, but for whatever fricken reason, isn't 'free' on PC.

Or my favorite - Halo Wars 2, which you have to pay for if purchased/redeemed on a PC. But since it's a game pass game and ALSO a play anywhere title, if I install it through Xbox first, I can then install and play it on PC without purchasing it.

Needless to say Game Pass and the MS Store as a whole on PC is still a goddamn mess. I really hope Phil Spencer is serious about fixing it.

Not to be that person, but I am that person so there’s no way of getting around it... I’ll patiently wait to play this on Switch

I love the characters and atmosphere of the game, but there's some about XCOM style games that just don't do it for me.

I love Vinny. I do. But his fascination with going over every single option on every single menu on every single game he QLs drives me absolutely insane.

I promise it's good to just play the game for a bit. We'll pick the rest up.

Anyway, game looks cool, always down for watching the guys fumble around helplessly with a tactics game.

So, there is a "right" way to play this, which is really only fully exposed if you play on very hard and I encourage everyone to try. At least challenge yourself to play on very hard and get to the Ark without taking a single point of damage (save scum if you have to), without ever letting any one attack you, and killing all the enemies (so no cheating by just avoiding them). In other words, do only stealth attacks and only 100% shots. Once you "get it", then you'll be figuring out the stealth/combat puzzle, which is what this game is all about. After that, switch difficulty if you want. The point is you'll better understand the style of game this is designed to be.

With a little min/maxing, I was able to get to where you get your 4th hero while only taking 2 points of damage and never using a health pack on very hard. Without min/maxing, I think you can do the same on hard. I think playing on normal will let you get away with playing this like X-COM, which will rob you of what makes this game magical.

I've put about 5-6 hours into this game and it keeps fighting me...I want to play it, but the difficulty is such a turn off for me. Even on normal I'm getting punished for things that I feel shouldn't be an issue. If I'm not careful 100% of the time, I'm almost guaranteed screwed and will have to revert to a previous save. Also if you aren't doing multiple saves with this game you in for a bad time...I very nearly got stuck in a death trap that I couldn't get out. I had to put this game down...which is a damn shame, because there is a lot to like here, but so much is pushing me away from this that I can no longer commit anymore time to it. I'll come back if they introduce an easy mode or something way less punishing then normal mode.

A few early game tips:

Explore the areas that are higher level. You might be able to sneak past high level mobs to get loot that feels overpowered for your level.

Prioritize upgrading stealth weapons at first. You'll get 3 silent weapons early on, allowing each party member to have one. Upgrades will allow you to take out most mobs silently in one round.

Prioritize Bormin's Hog Rush ability. That'll give you 2 rounds to attack a mob in stealth if you come across a mob that has too much health/armor to take out in one round. Also, there's a possible bug (or undocumented feature) that makes the Hog Rush disable last 2 full rounds, meaning you get 3 rounds of attack before the knocked out enemy gets a turn, assuming you ambush. You might consider prioritizing other similar disable abilities.

Really liked this quick look found it informative, thanks guys!

I'd rather play Mutineer 0: Road to Zero

I'm way into this

@professorx86: Do yourself a favor and start a new game on very hard. Then challenge yourself to make it to the Ark without taking a single hit and while killing everything on the way (except the level 50 guys). Once you understand the mechanics of doing that, you'll understand the type of game this is. To me, it feels more like a puzzle game than a tactical game.

Alternatively, watch the first episode of Skye Storm's walkthrough on YouTube.

I'm pretty far in and only once has the AI noticed a body. It was a guy on patrol stumbling upon his dead friend who he'd been talking with earlier. And yes, he called in the entire map of enemies at that point.

Otherwise I haven't really seen the chance for this to happen because all the stragglers that get taken out before the big fights are usually the only ones walking around anyway.

@itsahme: The xbox one version ain't too hot.

Been enjoying this on Game Pass though I'm not very far yet. The controller seems to work great, surprisingly.

They say the stealth/ambush mechanic is what makes it different from xcom, but xcom 2 actually has this also, just not in real time.

@sicamore: It's more of a difference of degree, than of kind. XCOM 2's stealth mechanics aren't as well thought-out or implemented as MYZ's are.

Duck character makes me think of Xenophobe.

Did Vinny never once mention that this is on Gamepass? I get that Xbox hasn't been something any of them outside of Alex has played on much but that seems like a pretty key thing to point out for people.